On 20100121_095411, Robert Brockway wrote: > On Fri, 15 Jan 2010, Paul E Condon wrote: > > >Contrary to tldp advice, I think it is unnecessary to make backups > >of /bin or /sbin. These files are readily available from you favorite > > I'm very much a fan of backing up the entire system (with limited > exceptions, such as an area set aside for the storage of downloads, > that is not backed up. > > The problem is that unless you restore to the _same_ binary you can't > guarantee the same behaviour. This is essential in the case of > server backups where there is little tolerance for behavioural > changes but still applies to desktop systems. > > A similar argument applies to the complete setup of the system. > Despite the best change management, small and non-obvious changes can > occur in a system. If you reinstall from the repo and restore the > config from /etc you may still be missing something (eg, a symlink) > and find an app is broken when it was previously working. Backing up > the entire state of the system means that when you do a DR you get > back a known working copy of the system, since it was working before. > > I'd consider having to reinstall from original media a failure of the > DR system. > > When I first started with Linux the system (binaries and config) took > up about 80% of the disk. Now it takes up less than 2%, so backing up > the system components hardly adds any pressure to the backup system. > It also allows for a much faster recovery following a DR. > > Also, important data has a way of hiding in more places on the disk > that you think it will. If you start excluding parts of your system > from the backups you increase the liklihood of missing something > important in the backups. > > This is covered in more detail in my backup talk notes (which I did > mention earlier in the thread): > > http://www.timetraveller.org/talks/backup_talk.pdf > > >Debian repository, and if your system has crashed in some serious > >way, you would be well advised to download again, once you think you > >have resolved the issue that caused the crash. Think about it --- > >if you have to restore one of these, something really bad has happened > >and you can't be sure that something -else- bad hasn't also happened - > >but you haven't noticed it - yet. > > That's where testing of the backup system comes in. You never know > that DR will work unless you test it. > > Cheers, > > Rob
Rob, I think we have different working conditions in mind. And, anyway, my comments were directed toward the system given in the tldp.org document. I see your document as advice to the systems people in a small business. It is good advice, and I commend you for it. I imagined OP to be somewhat of a newbie and slightly overwhelmed, not a systems person in a small business. I now think OP is not so much a newbie, and is quite capable of ignoring advice that doesn't address his issues, but that was the context for what I wrote. The tldp.org document is entitled "Linux-Complete-Backup-and-Recovery-HOWTO". One of the first things I noticed about it is that it assumes that you already -have- a daily backup system in place, and then it makes no attempt to integrate what it is presenting with that system, or even suggest a review of the design of that system. And yet it claims to be 'complete'. I think we can agree, it is not complete. Peace. -- Paul E Condon pecon...@mesanetworks.net -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
